Andre Dawson

Andre Nolan Dawson (born July 10, 1954, Miami, Florida) is a former Major League Baseball outfielder. In 1975 he was drafted by the Montreal Expos, and he made his pro baseball debut on September 11, 1975. In 1977, he hit .282, with 19 homers and 65 RBI, and was named NL Rookie of the Year.

Dawson, whose nickname was "The Hawk", played 1443 games with the Expos, 4th highest in franchise history. As an Expo, Dawson set single-season club records for home runs (32, now 7th), RBI (113, now 4th), Extra Base Hits (78, now 7th), and Sacrifice Flies (18, still 1st). He still holds the Expos' career record for Sacrifice Flies (71), and is the only player to hit 200 home runs and steal 200 bases with Montreal.

He played for the Expos until after the 1986 season, when he took a pay cut to sign with the Chicago Cubs. Dawson's knee injuries were aggravated by playing on artificial turf in Montreal, and he hoped playing home games on grass at Wrigley Field would prolong his career. Dawson had campaigned for the Cubs to sign him during the offseason, but general manager Dallas Green resisted, insisting that the Cubs would start Brian Dayett in right field, and that one player could not make a 71-91 team a 91-71 team. When the Cubs opened camp in Mesa, Arizona that spring, Dawson and his agent Dick Moss arrived in an attempt to secure a contract with the Cubs. Dawson and Moss' stunt was derided as a "dog and pony show" by Green, who still wouldn't make an offer to Dawson. Two weeks into spring training, Dawson turned the tables on Green and the Cubs, presenting Green with a blank contract. Green filled in the contract with lean figures: a $500,000 base salary with $250,000 in incentives if Dawson made the All-Star team, started the All-Star Game, and won the National League MVP award.

He did all three, enjoying one of his finest seasons in 1987 in terms of raw statistics. He hit 49 home runs and was named NL MVP. It was his first MVP award, as he was twice first runner up for MVP with Montreal, in 1981 and 1983. Green was proven right about one thing: Dawson couldn't turn around the Cubs' fortunes. Although the Cubs contended for the first half of the season and were even in first place in early May, they finished in last place (76-85) in the National League East.

Dawson played five more seasons with the Cubs, and was one of the franchise's most popular players during that time. His worst individual season came in 1989, when the Cubs won the National League East title. Dawson slumped during the National League Championship Series, hitting .105 as the San Francisco Giants beat the Cubs 4 games to 1.

His .507 career slugging percentage with the Cubs is 4th highest in Cubs history. Nonetheless, Bill James considers Dawson's best years to be from 1979-1983, with his higher Chicago numbers being due to Wrigley Field's advantageous environment for hitters (James 2001).

Dawson also played for the Boston Red Sox, and the Florida Marlins before retiring with 2774 hits, 438 home runs, 314 Stolen Bases, and 1591 RBI. He is 29th on the all-time Home Run list, and 28th on the all-time RBI list. He is one of only six players in major league history to record over 300 home runs and 300 stolen bases in his career (300-300 club). The other players to accomplish this are Barry Bonds, Willie Mays, Bobby Bonds, Reggie Sanders and Steve Finley. Andre Dawson was an 8-time All Star between 1981 and 1991, and won eight Gold Glove Awards as an outfielder in the 1980s.

In the 2006 BBWAA Hall of Fame Ballot, Dawson's name appeared on 61.0% of the ballots cast, up from 52.3% in the previous year, falling short of the required 75% [1] [2]. His RBI statistics were helped by his time in Wrigley Field, and his career .323 OBP is average for MLB players (James 1988, 2001).

Former teammate, Ryne Sandberg campaigned for Dawson's induction during his speech at his own Hall of Fame induction ceremony, calling Dawson the "best player I ever played with."

Currently employed in the Florida Marlins organization, Dawson serves as a special assistant to team president where he finally won a World Series ring there in 2003 David P. Samson.

See also

• Top 500 home run hitters of all time
• 300-300 club

hes an idiot as well

References

• Bill, James (1988). The Bill James Baseball Abstract. Ballantine Books / Random House.
• Bill, James (2001). The new Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract. The Free Press / Simon & Shuster.

External links

• Baseball Hall of Fame website; results of 2006 BBWAA vote
• Baseball Hall of Fame website; annual voting results for André Dawson
• ESPN website; Phil Rogers, December 30, 2005

• Career statistics and player information from Baseball Reference
• The Baseball Page
• Baseball Library